How happy are you?
Hard question, I know. And I’m asking about your life in general, not this specific moment.
How content are you with your life as it is today?
It is unlikely that you’re totally, 100% happy with everything in your life. I would even argue that the thought that you’re all happy is impossible, because lack of opportunity for any growth or changes in your life means you’re at a dead stop. A standstill. We’re humans…we live to grow.
However, is there a way to MAXIMIZE your happiness level? What can you do right now to increase your happiness?
One way to start is to LIVE YOUR VALUES.
Let’s start with what I actually mean by VALUES. These are traits, principles or qualities that are important to your identity and how you see yourself (or, how you WANT to see yourself).
When our values are misaligned with the way we live our lives, then we’re not growing into our happiness potential. For example, if one of my values is being environmentally friendly, and I’m still buying individually plastic-packaged snacks for my household, or working for a company that heavily pollutes our air or water…I’m not really living my values. These traits are at odds with my identity as a person who is environmentally conscious, and as such, I’m not going to be happy with that area of my life. Make sense?
I’m not suggesting that you run out and quit your job or do something equally as drastic. Remember our first blog post – Taking the First Steps? Depending on what your values are, this may be one of those things you want to take baby steps on, and not go full leap.
So, first steps…what do we do?
IDENTIFY
Grab a journal, notes app on your phone, scratch paper (just don’t lose it!), or whatever you like and start writing them down. Some leading questions to help you get started:
-
- How do you see yourself, or want to see yourself?
- What kind of person are you?
- What traits are important to you?
You may have A LOT to write down. I did! Use your notes to drill down to individual values. Here are some examples from my own exercise:
I value…
-
- Health
- Courage
- Friendship
Once you have your list, it’s time to…
ORGANIZE & RATE
In this step we are going to do two things in the order below:
-
- Organize your list of values from most important to least important. (you can also think of this exercise as organizing by which values you feel contribute more to the identity you have or want)
- Take your top FIVE values and rate where you currently think you are on a scale of 1-10. Be honest here. I also make notes about WHY I chose a particular number to refer back to later when I wonder why I picked that at the time.
- Organize your list of values from most important to least important. (you can also think of this exercise as organizing by which values you feel contribute more to the identity you have or want)
Here are some free, downloadable worksheets to help you! Find them in the LINKS section at the end of this post.
Next, we will…
STRATEGIZE
For this step, I want you to create a matrix like the one below, but replace the items in the far left row with your top 5 values.
| Tier I – Right Now | Tier II – Near Future | Tier III – Future. | |
| [Value #1] | |||
| [Value #2] | |||
| [Value #3] | |||
| [Value #4] | |||
| [Value #5] |
In the columns to the right, you’re going to brainstorm actionable tasks that will help you to start LIVING these values. And as you do that, you’re going to categorize them as follows:
-
- Tier I – something you can do or start right now, no waiting required. There is little to no investment monetarily, or situational issues that hold you back from starting.
- Tier II – something you can start in the near future. You can define what near future means to you, but I’d say I generally think this you can do or start this task means within the year. You may have to wait to get through a big life change like a move or a new baby or marriage, or you may have to save up some money to be able to kick it off.
- Tier III – this is something requiring more long-term focus and investment of time or money. Maybe it’s going back to school, or starting a business. You may also have to wait for the same life changes to be settled like in Tier II.
- Tier I – something you can do or start right now, no waiting required. There is little to no investment monetarily, or situational issues that hold you back from starting.
When you’re brainstorming, these need to be actual TASKS to complete. For example, if I have a value that is related to my health, my Tier I/II/III items might look something like this:
| Tier I – Right Now | Tier II – Near Future | Tier III – Future | |
| Health | – Make a doctor appt – Remove unhealthy snacks from the house – Buy new running shoes | – Hire a personal trainer – Switch to plant-based eating 2x/week – Buy a treadmill | – Implement 100% plant- based diet – Build a home gym room |
Make them real tasks that you can check off later as complete. If you make them general or obscure, they’re hard to check off. If you put “eat healthy” in there…can you ever call yourself 100% on that? Even plant-based eaters eat sweets sometimes! I like yes/no tasks or tasks to which you can apply a % complete.
The worksheets under the Organize & Rate section have a page to help you complete the “Strategize” step as well! Find them again in the LINKS section below.
IMPLEMENT
Now is the time for those Tier I items. If you must, set aside time to do them on your calendar today or tomorrow. Then go back to your list and check them off!
Let this list be dynamic, too. If you check off “making a doctor appt”, then add a new item like “talk to doctor about high cholesterol” or something tangible that continues you on your journey. Let the list run on and on.
This is all about you and what works for you. If five things are too many to deal with at once and you end up with too many tasks, just start on the tasks for the first value and work your way through.
RE-EVALUATE – THREE TO SIX MONTHS LATER
First, go back to Step 2 and rate yourself again on these five values. Have you improved? Stayed steady? Backtracked? Re-evaluating can help you refocus your efforts.
Second, review your Tier I-III tasks for what you’ve done, what still needs to be done, and if you can move anything around. You can also decide whether it’s time to add any Tier I tasks that may have to do with your Tier II items. For the example above, I might add a task like, “buy a plant-based cookbook” or, “research treadmills”. Same with things from Tier III to Tier II – like if one of your kids is moving out in the next year and you’ll have a free room, time to put “research equipment for home gym” on the Tier II list for the example above.
You can also add, drop or replace things from the list. If you’ve gone off running and found that biking is more your thing (BTW, check out our post on the different types of bike riding!) then maybe you want to buy a bike instead of a treadmill. The list changes with you – just don’t put it in a dark corner and forget about it!
Living Your Values is only ONE of the many ways to increase your happiness level. Your values are so closely tied to your identity that they can help guide how we live in many ways.
I’d love to hear about how you plan to Live Your Values. If you feel comfortable, you can share below or comment on social media, or send us a DM on Insta @welcometowellstreet (DMs remain private). Or feel free to reach out with questions in our email box. Our door is always open.
“It’s our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.”
JK Rowling
LINKS
